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Missing key witness in ZTE scandal surfaced

Another key witness in the anomalous ZTE broadband deal between the Philippines and China, surfaced early dawn today at a catholic school in San Juan, Green Hills, Metro Manila, after he was allegedly abducted more than 20 hours ago by unknown individuals as he disembarked from a Cathay Pacific Airways at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Pasay City, Philippines.

Rodolfo Lozado, a technical adviser to the multi-million dollar ZTE scandal and president of the Philippine Forest Development Council, an attached agency of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), told media during a press conference held inside the La Salle Catholic School in Greenhills, San Juan, Metro Manila that he was fetched by plainclothes men who introduced themselves as coming from the police security protection unit of the Philippine National Police.

Reports said Lozada was whisked away without passing through the customs and immigration personnel who normally inspect each arriving passenger from abroad so that the arrival time can be stamped on his valid passport.

Consequently, the family members and other relatives who were waiting for him at the arrival area got a surprise of their lives when Lozada was nowhere to be found. They only learned later from airport witnesses who said that some plainclothes personnel escorted him out at the exit door and spirited away.

In a press conference attended by catholic priests, bishops and nuns from the Catholic Bishop Conference of the Philippines, Lozada admitted that during the alleged kidnapping he was made to sign an affidavit without exactly knowing what was its content. He suspected that the affidavit will be used against him should he pushes through with his intention to testify at the Senate hearing spearheaded by the Blue Ribbon Committee chaired by Sen. Allan Peter Cayetano.

In the same conference, Lozada invoked his earlier testimonies that former Commission on Elections chairman Benjamin Abalos, who resigned after the Joey de Venecia, the son of House Speaker Jose de Venecia, implicated Abalos as the mastermind behind ZTE broadband scandal.

Lozada said that during a meeting at the Shangrila Hotel in Mandaluyong, he overheard Abalos convincing First Gentleman Mike Arroyo, who was in the same meeting, to convince President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to work out a deal that would make the ZTE broadband deal as part of the loan by the Philippine government